Improved refrigerator



distinti tstes @me aan.

A. J. cHAsnyon BosToN', MAss'acnnse'rrs, A ssIeNon To B. r.

' I HORN, oF sAME Placer` y -Y -Letters Patent No. 95,428, datedOctober1 5, 1869.

IMPROVE!) REFRIGBRATOR.

To all to whom these presents shall come:

Be it known that I, A. J. CHASE, cf Boston, in the county of Suffolk,and Commonwealth of Massachnsetts, have made an invention of certain newand useful Improvements in Air-Refrigerating Chambers or Chests forSlaughter-Houses, Markets, '&c.; and do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description thereof, due reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and inwhich- I Figures 1 and 2' are respectively longitudinal andtransverse-vertical sections cfa refrigerating-apparatus embodying myinvention.

I would-preface the descriptionA herein to follow of `my invention, bythe remark thatI am, of course, well aware that it is no new thing toeect the ventilation or purification of the interior of a'refrigeratorlby the admission thereto-ofzexternal atmospheric air, and so far las myknowledge extends, which my business of manufacturing refrigerators, aswell as eX- tended and careful trials, as a matter of .necessity haverendered comprehensive, all experiments to this -end have been conductedupon the supposition that to thoroughly ventilate the interiorof arefrigerator, the presence of atmospheric ai'r in large quantitiestherein was necessary.

Numerous and elaborate experiments have demonstrated to me the fallacyof this theory, and my present invention has-rather to do with anair-tight refrigerator, so to speak, or one in which practically noatmospheric air is admitted, or only vthat effecting an entrance atshort clandestine intervals'of time, such as opening the door or coverof the device affords.

' My present invention, then, may be said to constitute aself-ventilatin g, practically air-tight refrigerator, since it does notdepend for success, in any material degree, upon the presence ofatmospheric air in material quantities.

In carrying out the invention herein described, and

-which constitutes' the subject-matter' of these Letters Patent,'1provide a case, box, or structure, A', of wood, or other suitablematerial, and I construct such object with double walls, and lill theintervening spaces with anyproper non-conducting'material, after themanner of a majority of refrigerators now in use.

The upper portion a of the structure A is, preferably, contractedinsize, and separated from the lower by a iioor, b, provided with asuitable rack, c, for supporting the ice, and also with adischarge-pipe, d, for carrying ofi' tainted ice-meltings, and ,withapertures It, for the descent of the cold air.

Ill-pursuance of the principles of my invention,

dispose, preferably within the hollow walls of the structure, andsurrounded by its non-conducting material, one or more tubes 01'air-conduits c c, &c., one extremity cfsuch eonduitlopening into theupper part of the icefchamber f, andthe opposite and lower extremityinto the upper part of the provision-chamber g, as represented in lig. 2of the drawings, by which -v means free communication is offeredvbetween the two.

The non-conducting material employed for filling the walls of thestructure isolates the air-conduits from the influence of the ice withinthe ice-chamber.

The above description embraces the mechanical construction andorganization of my invention, and, though brief, will beampl'y-sudicient, with the aid ot' the annexed drawing, to enable mechanics offair acquirements to manufacture the invention, the operation of thedevice beingas follows:

The cold air, produced by the'presence of the ice in the chamber f,falls, by natural laws, to the warmer provision-chamber below,l bythis'creating or tending n to create a vacuum abovethe ice, which must besupplied from some-source, aswell las exerting asweiglht,..

mechanically speaking, upon the air in the chamber below. V

The weight, as well as'the tendency to a vacuum,

drives the air from the remotest upper part of the chamber g, where itnaturally collects, throughthe conduits e c, and into the upper part ofthe ice-chamber, and is precipitated upon the ice therein, this passageor lowage of air through the apparatus becoming afterward self-continuedand regular.

. The air, in its passage through the provision-chamber, becomes chargedand impregnated with the odors from the provisions contained therein.

It is well known that objects of a low degree oi",l

temperature possess a great affinity for warm 'odors or vapors, exhaledfrom animal or vegetable matter; consequently, the ice in theice-chamber possesses a great attraction for the warm odors and animalheat escaping from the contents of the provision-chamber.

These odors strike against and circulate about thc ice, and, Whiletending to melt the latter,.are seized by and incorporated with thewater resulting from the melting of thefice, and escape with it from theapparatus, through the waste-piped.

It will be seen, that while a small quantity of airl is evolved withinthe icechamber, by the melting and partial evaporation of the icetherein, and a small quantity is also admitted to theprovision-chamber.by

the insertion or removal of provisions, my redigerator may,notwithstanding, be considered practicallyv an air-tight one, inasmuchas the air gaining access to its interior is ininitessimal in comparisonwith those admitting and discharging external air directly, as asystematized process of ventilation.

Owing to the exclusion of any great amount of external'air from theinterior of the structure, the wasting of the ice is ve1'yslo\v,a greateconomy in this respect being effected in comparison with refrigeratorsthrough which a current of such air circulates.

Having thus described the nature and operation of my invention,

What I believe to be novel and original with myself, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is as follows:

Claim. An air-tight refrigerator, so called, composed of the twochambers f g, vseparated by the partition b, and communicating with eachother through the cold- Witnesses FRED. CURTIS. EDWARD GRIFFITH.

